Babiniku (Japanese:バ美肉) is a Japanese term for an online avatar depicting ananime-style female character used by content creators who are often (but not always) male.[1] The term is an abbreviation of "virtualbishoujo juniku" (バーチャル美少女受肉; meaning "virtual girl incarnation") or "virtualbishoujo selfjuniku" (バーチャル美少女セルフ受肉; meaning "virtual girl self-incarnation").[1][2]
Babiniku may be using anavatar of a cute girl,[3] acting as a virtual girl in a virtual space such asVRChat,[2][4] or acting as avirtual YouTuber or virtual idol.[5] They may modify their voice into a girl's voice by using avoice changer,[6][7] or they may simply use their natural voice along with the female 3D model, Live2D model, or static picture.[8][9] If an adult male uses these sorts of female avatars, he may be called a "Babiniku Oji-san" (バ美肉おじさん; "virtual girl incarnated guy").[* 1][8][7]
In the Japanese virtual YouTuber (VTuber) community, the performer is called thesoul (Japanese:魂,Hepburn:tamashii) ,[2][10] the character's model or avatar is called thebody (Japanese:肉体,Hepburn:nikutai),[11] and the act of acquiring the model is calledincarnation (Japanese:受肉,Hepburn:juniku). The word "incarnation" originated from whatNijisanji VTuberTsukino Mito [jp] said about getting a 3D model of herself.[12]
The "soul" and the "body" is generally the same in the virtual YouTuber community, but the VTuber known as "Virtualnoja-lolikitsune musume YouTuberOji-san" (Japanese:バーチャルのじゃロリ狐娘Youtuberおじさん, "virtualnoja[* 2]-lolita fox girl YouTuber guy", abbreviation:Noja-oji) became popular at the end of 2017, and she is a male using a femalenikutai.[10] She announced she was a male using a female avatar, showing he could become a cute girl character even if he was a man and his voice was still his natural male voice. Many VTubers andBabiniku VTubers became active after seeing her videos.[13][9][12] Her work resulted in an acceptance from viewers, as they didn't care if there was a man behind a character so long as the character itself was cute.[5]
For some,babiniku is not just about seeing a cute character, but also about finding entertainment in the mismatch between the soul (performer) and the gender presented, which can be considered part of the VTuber's content.[9] One difference between a normal VTubers and ababiniku VTuber is that manybabiniku VTubers acknowledge the existence of the person behind the character.[9] The difference between anekama and ababiniku is that ababiniku often acknowledges the gender difference between the user and how they present themselves.[4]
The popularity of taking on female avatars declined afterNoja-oji's appearance on the scene, excluding the work by some such asARu-ko (ARu子). At the end of May 2018, however, cartoonistRimukoro (リムコロ) and illustratorMaki-hitsuji (巻羊) introduced a method of animating illustrations during live streams by using software calledFaceRig andLive2D. This quickly became popular among illustrators.[8][14][15] Many VTubers were originally illustrators, which helped the development of a community of those VTubers who made it publicly known that their "soul" was male.[12] In June 2018, there was a live stream titled "VirtualBishoujo SelfJuniku Oji-san Joshi-kai One NightJinrou" (Japanese:バーチャル美少女セルフ受肉おじさん女子会ワンナイト人狼, "Virtual-Girl-Self-Incarnation-Guys Girls' Party, playing One Night Werewolf"), and this title was the source of the termbabiniku.[16][12][8] One of the participants in the live stream wasMa-oh Magurona (魔王マグロナ; "Magurona the Demon King"), who is considered one of the leadingbabiniku VTubers due to the high number of her subscribers as well as her cuteness.[6][10]
Japanese:おじさんが自分で絵を書いて自分で動かしたLive2Dの体に受肉して、更に自分でボイスチェンジャーを使って声帯を弄って、自分で声を当てた地獄のようなコンテンツです。
English:This is a content like a "hell", guys incarnated himself into a Live 2-D body that he drew and moved by himself, and also handle his "vocal chords" by himself using a voice changer, and applied the voice for the body by himself.
"Hellish" is a word often used to indirectly describebabiniku.[12]Rimukoro,Maki-hitsuji,Magurona, andNatori Sana (Japanese:名取さな) were all asked in interviews, "what is babiniku?", to which they all responded, "it's hell". They provided a variety of reasons why they thought so, including that it "twists your nature" or "has a deep darkness".[17]
According toMagurona, she made the title "Virtual-Girl-Self-Incarnation-Guys Girls' Party" for the livestream because it was originally meant to be "hellish content where guys who have drawn their own avatars and transformed themselves into cute girls get together and make some noise". Over time, the "self" aspect ofMagurona's title—which indicated the performers created their avatars themselves—faded away, and the termbabiniku could be applied to any man acting through an avatar depicting a cute girl, regardless of how he obtained the avatar.[10][12] Magurona's performer has no desire to become more feminine himself.[5]
It is difficult to convert an ordinary male voice into a female voice through instrumental manipulation alone.[18][19] It is important that the performer bring their voice closer to a feminine voice by using their falsetto or a mixed voice[19][20][6] as the smaller the change in pitch and formant in the voice changer, the more natural the female voice will be.[6][11] There are also somebabiniku VTubers, such asTakehana Nohto (Japanese:竹花ノート), who speak in female-like voices without using a voice changer.[6][21] The voice itself is not the only factor in achieving a feminine voice, speech patterns and intonation are important as well.[6][11][19]
On 8 January 2020,NHK Educational TV broadcast aboutBabiniku in "Nehorin-Pahorin".[22]
The dictionary definition ofバ美肉 at Wiktionary